Worship God in Spirit and in Truth [The Inner Jerusalem] - Part 2

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Worship God " in Spirit and in Truth " [The Inner Jerusalem] - Part 2

(The Woman of Samaria, Part II)

 

Where is the best temple

for worshiping God?

 

(p.306) A magnificent, multimillion-dollar temple might draw an aristocratic

congregation of worshipers, impressed with the comfort of cushioned velvet

seats, ornamental architecture, and elaborate services. (p.307) But the

omnipresent God, who lives in the temple of the cosmos, with the star-decked

dome of Eternity, illumined by suns and moons, is not lured by a display of pomp

and wealth into pride-created man-made edifices. He is easily coaxed, however,

onto the altar of meditation by those who establish the temple of God within

themselves.

 

" The most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

'Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will ye build Me?'

saith the Lord: or 'What is the place of My rest? Hath not My hand made all

these things?' " [1]

 

In my early years of traveling and lecturing throughout the West, I was often

struck by the contrast between the practice of religion as I learned it from

God-knowing sages in India and the customary Western approach. God once showed

me an illustrative vision:

 

In one place, there stood an immense temple, resplendent with marble decorations

and a skyscraper golden dome, comfortably seating a congregation of ten

thousand. Its walls echoed with organ music and a glorious choir chanting hymns

to God. It was all impressive and enjoyable, and I appreciated and admired it.

 

Then God showed me sitting in meditation under a tree, beneath a canopy of free

skies, with only a few true souls; His light was passing through all of us. God

asked me which I would prefer, the magnificent church without Him or the

tree-temple with Him. Without question, I chose to be under the tree enwrapped

in God. He laughed, however, when I countered that some big buildings would be

necessary for His work and that He could be in them as well as under the tree.

 

God is in the temple, and He is under the tree. But He is perceived only in

interiorized meditation when the inner sanctuary door of silence opens. Neither

pomp nor penury opens that door. It swings open wide, as if on magical hinges,

when the high vibration of the worshiper's soul turns the key.

 

Quiet mountaintops and holy places sanctified by the presence of masters are fit

places of worship, yet in themselves are of marginal benefit to restless

materially minded people. Worldly people have built temples on hilltops and

lived in places of pilgrimage, only to find that their inner environment is

still a den of matter worship of sense-bound thoughts. That is why Jesus

emphasized that true worship of God is not conditioned by location or found in

the imaginary communion of mere outer silence, but takes place in the inner

contact of spiritual perception.

 

(p.308) Devotees who by meditation interiorize the outgoing consciousness,

withdrawing their attention from identification with the mortal body and

material Nature, discover through direct experience what God is. They alone know

what it means truly to worship Him; they alone have found the way to attain

salvation.

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 18, pg. 306-308

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

Notes:

 

[1] Acts 7:48-50 (quoting Isaiah 66:1-2).